Intervjun

Friskyttarna – Connectivity and loading issues have been an increasingly apparent problems in the last few expansions, are there any fixes scheduled?

Hanna Foell – We are always working on improving performance.

Friskyttarna – Now that you have implemented Big Battles into LotRO, will you be using the system for other epic battles on our way towards Mordor?

Hanna Foell – The story always comes first for us and will continue to dictate how we use the systems we’ve created as we build Middle Earth.

Friskyttarna – Are we to expect more implementations of Mounted Combat in the future development of Helm’s Deep and future expansions?

Hanna Foell – We will continue to make Mounted Combat a part of the world as it expands, and we’ll continue to refine how it feels and plays.

Friskyttarna – Which class do you feel turned out the very best with the HD revamp?

Hanna Foell – Don’t make me pick! That’s like asking me to choose my favorite child. I love that the combat feels more fast-paced and I appreciate not having to visit the bards to switch my traits. Some highlights for me are the Huntsman line for the Hunter, the Sic Em skill for the Loremaster and the distinct play styles of the three Guardian lines.

Friskyttarna – Any chance of an update/rebalance to Fellowship Maneuvers in HD? It’s a very unique feature of the game that many find very fun to execute in group content.

Hanna Foell – We continue to look at our existing systems, with an eye towards updating and improving them. We don’t currently have plans to rebalance Fellowship Maneuvers, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

Friskyttarna – How much of the development of HD did you [Turbine] put into the new Big Battle system compared to other parts of the expansion?

Hanna Foell – The Battle for Helm’s Deep is a huge a part of our expansion pack is it was of the story of The Lord of The Rings. That is to say, we spent a long time on it.

Friskyttarna – How do you feel that big battles played out in comparison to skirmishes and the older ‘classic’ instances and raids, and which type can we expect in the future?

Hanna Foell – The goal of the Epic Battle system was designed to depict full scale war, which makes it hard to compare to raids or skirmishes. We’ll continue to build systems to serve the needs of the story as we follow the Fellowship through Middle Earth, though we have stated that we do intend to build any more of what I think you’re calling a “classic raid”.

Friskyttarna – While the new trait system brought both diversity and a lot of interesting news some players felt that they ended up with a smaller pool of skills than pre-HD. Do you plan to extend or tweak the trait lines to enable more of the old skills that are currently ‘missing’ from some specs?

Hanna Foell – One of the goals of the trait system was to reduce the bloat of skills that many players felt was confusing and cumbersome. Another goal was to get our trait system in a place where they could further develop with later level cap raises. There are now fewer skills by design. We will continue to update the traits and skills based on player feedback, and are looking forward to developing our character classes with later updates.